March 2, 2007
AUBURN, Ala. - Thanks to a masterful pitching performance by Josh Satow and some timely two out hits, the Arizona State Sun Devils picked up an 8-2 win over #23 Auburn at Plainsman Park in Auburn. Matt Hall went 4-5 with two RBI, one of three Sun Devils to knock in two runs on the night. With the win, Arizona State improves to 12-3 on the year.
Satow fooled the Tiger hitters all night, throwing seven innings of shut out ball. He allowed only five hits and struck out three to up his record to 4-1 on the season. Mike Leake threw the final two innings of the game.
The Sun Devil offense got started early in the game as Matt Hall put the Devils on the board in the top of the second, singling home Petey Paramore and Kiel Roling to make it 2-0 ASU. Andrew Romine plated two more when his line drive was just high enough to avoid the second baseman's jump, allowing Hall and Jarred Bogany to score. That made it 4-0 Arizona State, with all four runs coming with two outs.
Eric Sogard made it 5-0 Devils with a sac fly to center in the fourth. Sogard struck again in the top of the sixth. With runners at the corners, Sogard dropped a perfect bunt just in front of the plate. Romine beat the throw home to score to make it 6-0 ASU. They would tack on two more in the ninth after two Tiger miscues allowed the inning to continue.
Auburn was able to score twice in the bottom of the ninth, but Leake struck out Ben Jones looking for the final out of the game.
Andrew Romine was 3-5 with two RBI and two runs scored, while Eric Sogard drove in two runs of his own. Five Devils had multi-hit nights, including the top three batters in the order (Romine, Wallace, Sogard).
The Devils and Tigers will play game two of the three game series tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m. Arizona time.